December 15th "2023" daily prep
Welcome to day 349 of the year! Known as Ugly Sweater Day, National Cupcake Day and International Tea Day. If you were born on this day, you were likely conceived the week of March 24th. Your star sign is “Sagittarius” and your birthstone is Blue Topaz.
2013 – Andy Murray was awarded the BBC’s Sports Personality of the Year. Earlier in the year Murray had become the first Briton in three quarters of a century to win the men’s singles competition at Wimbledon.
Todays birthdays
1969 – Ralph Ineson (54), English actor (The Office – Chris Finch) and narrator (Salavage Hunters), born in Leeds.
1970 – Frankie Dettori (53), Italian jockey based in England with a career spanning over 35 years, born in Milan, Italy.
1972 – Stuart Townsend (51), Irish actor portraying Lestat de Lioncourt in Queen of the Damned and Dorian Gray in The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, born in Dublin, Ireland.
1981 – Michelle Dockery (42), English actress (The Gentleman) best known for starring as Lady Mary Crawley in Downton Abbey, born in London.
1992 – Jesse Lingard (31), English professional footballer (West Ham United, Manchester United, England National Side), born in Warrington, Cheshire.
The day today
1974 – New speed limits were introduced. Speed limits on motorways would remain at 70mph , but on dual carriageways they would become 60mph and on all other roads 50mph as the government tried to curb fuel use.
1982 – Reputed to be Robin Hood’s tree, the ‘Major Oak’ in Sherwood Forest, was fitted with a fire alarm. Also on this day… There were scenes of jubilation as the gates isolating the people of Gibraltar from Spain were opened for the first time in 13 years. There were tight restrictions, which included a ban on any British or foreign tourists crossing.
1987 – A company in Bedford became the first to be fined (£500) for failing to register personal computer records under the Data Protection Act.
2014 – Jonathan Paul Burrows, a London hedge fund manager who regularly avoided buying a train ticket on his commute to the City, was banned for life from working in any regulated financial industries. In total, Mr Burrows was believed to have dodged £42,550 in fares.
2015 – Forty three year old astronaut Major Tim Peake became the first Briton to serve a mission on the International Space Station. He took off from Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan at 11:03am GMT, alongside Nasa astronaut Tim Kopra and Russian commander Yuri Malenchenko.
Today in music
1969 – John Lennon played what would be his final ever gig in the UK when he appeared at The Lyceum Ballroom, London, with the Plastic Ono Band in a UNICEF ‘Peace For Christmas’ benefit. George Harrison, Eric Clapton, Delaney and Bonnie, Billy Preston and The Who’s drummer, Keith Moon also took part.
1979 – Pink Floyd started a five week run at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Another Brick In The Wall (Part 2)’ their only UK chart topper. The song, which was also the final No.1 single of the 1970s, received a Grammy nomination for Best Performance by a Rock Duo or Group, but Floyd lost to Bob Seger’s Against the Wind.
1984 – Do They Know It’s Christmas? by Band Aid entered the UK chart at No.1 and stayed at the top for five weeks. It became the biggest selling UK single of all time with sales over 3 and a half million.
1997 – ‘Spice World The Movie’, featuring The Spice Girls premiered at The Empire, Leicester Sq, London. The following year it was nominated for the ‘worst film’ at the Golden Raspberry Awards.
2002 – Blue featuring Elton John went to No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word.’ Previously a No.11 hit for Elton in 1976. It gave Elton only his 5th No 1 after over 30 years of hits.
Today in history
1651 – Castle Cornet in Guernsey, the last stronghold which had supported the King in the Third English Civil War, surrenders.
1840 – Napoleon Bonaparte finally had a funeral. Napoleon died in St Helena, a remote British-owned island where he had been exiled. Due to the political struggle between Britain and France, it took 19 years to relocate Napoleon’s remains back to France to finally have a French state funeral.
1899 – British Army forces are defeated at the Battle of Colenso in Natal, South Africa, the third and final battle fought during the Black Week of the Second Boer War.
1906 – The opening of the Piccadilly tube line on London’s Underground. It was the longest underground line at the time, running from Finsbury Park to Hammersmith.
1913 – Suffragettes caused a dynamite explosion at Holloway Prison where Emmeline Pankhurst and Lady Constance Lytton were detained.
Fact of the day
One of the stars of Christmas decorations worldwide, tinsel is well known for being sparkly and exceptionally glamorous. But did you know that tinsel was made initially with extruded silver to create the sparkly effect. It was first used in Germany centuries ago, but as silver tarnishes quickly, different metals were used over the years until we ended up with modern tinsel. This is made using various forms of plastic, so it’s lighter and much cheaper than using real metals.